Shlomit Nir (שלומית ניר; also "Nir-Toor"; born November 7, 1952) is an Israeli former Olympic swimmer.

Early and personal life

Nir was born and raised on a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Fo ...

, HaTzafon, Israel. Her grandparents left Ukraine to start a kibbutz, which is where her father was born. Her brother was killed while fighting as a soldier in the

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

in 1969. She has three children.

Swimming career

Nir began swimming at age 11, and became the Israeli national champion within six months. She competed for Israel at the

1965 Maccabiah Games The 7th Maccabiah Games in 1965 saw 1,500 athletes from 29 different countries compete in 21 sports. It was the first Maccabiah Games for Iran, Jamaica, Peru, and Venezuela. The United States delegation won the most gold medals, followed by Israel, ...

, winning the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the women's 200 metre breastroke as a young teenager. Nir competed for

Israel at the 1968 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. 29 competitors, 26 men and 3 women, took part in 20 events in 4 sports. Results by event Athletics Football Preliminary round - Group C During the Group C competition, ...

, at the age of 15, in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Swimming in the Women's 100 metre Breaststroke she took 3rd in her heat with a time of 1:20.9. Swimming in the Women's 200 metre Breaststroke she took 5th in her heat, again with a time of 2:58.5. She competed for Israel at the 1970 Asian Games in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, Thailand. In

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

, Nir won

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

s in the 100 m breaststroke, in 1:20.6, and in the 200 m breaststroke, in 2:54.3. Nir competed for

Israel at the 1972 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, which began on August 26. On September 5 and 6, in the Munich massacre, 11 members of the Israeli delegation—5 athletes, 2 referees, and 4 coaches (names bolded on this page) ...

, at the age of 19, in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany. Swimming in the Women's 100 metre Breaststroke she took 5th in her heat with a time of 1:20.90. Swimming in the Women's 200 metre Breaststroke she took 6th in her heat with a time of 2:53.60. When she competed in the Olympics, she was 5-6.5 (170 cm) tall, and weighed 146 lbs (66 kg).

Munich massacre

Nir was at the

Olympic Village An Olympic Village is an accommodation center built for the Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials and athletic trainers. Afte ...

during the

Munich Massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...

. She had planned to return to Israel soon after swimming her last race, to marry her fiancé. But the Israeli team head asked her to wait, to fly back with an injured fellow Israeli athlete. On September 5, others on the Israeli team were attacked in their dorms by members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. Two athletes fought back and were killed, while nine others were taken hostage. The following day, German authorities took Nir, who had been staying in another building, and the remaining Israeli team members and coaches to the ninth floor of the building. From a window, Nir watched as two helicopters landed on the Olympic Village lawn. The helicopters were supposed to take the terrorists and the Israeli hostages to

Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base (German: "Fliegerhorst Fürstenfeldbruck" or "Flugplatz Fürstenfeldbruck") is a former German Air Force airfield near the town of Fürstenfeldbruck in Bavaria, near Munich, Germany. Fürstenfeldbruck became famous firs ...

, and from there they were to fly to Cairo. Nir said:

We watched from the ninth floor window as the two buses arrived. Four blindfolded athletes with their hands tied together got off the first bus. They were put on the first helicopter. Then, another five hostages got off the second bus and climbed onto the second helicopter. That was the last image we saw. Although we were on the ninth floor, we could still see it well.

All nine hostages were killed in a failed German rescue operation at the airbase. For a year Nir kept having nightmares that she was "running away from the Arabs," underneath the Olympic Village. "I saw this place, the same location all the time, I couldn't run out of it." I would always be running, and terrorists with masks were chasing me." Since the 1972 Munich Games, Nir has regularly attended commemorations for the killed athletes and met with fellow survivors.

Later career

Nir as of 2012 worked for the Israel Ministry of Sport, and was Director of the Unit for the Advancement of Women in Sports at the Sport Management Division of the

Israeli Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education ( he, מִשְׂרָד הַחִנּוּךְ, translit. ''Misrad HaHinukh''; ar, وزارة التربية والتعليم) is the branch of the Israeli government charged with overseeing public education institutions ...

References

External links

*
"Excerpt from interview with Shlomit Nir-Toor, Israeli survivor of the 1972 Munich Massacre"
at

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(video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nir, Shlomit Living people Kibbutzniks People from Tiberias Jewish swimmers Olympic swimmers for Israel Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Maccabiah Games medalists in swimming Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Israel 1952 births Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Israeli Jews Israeli female swimmers Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 1965 Maccabiah Games Female breaststroke swimmers Asian Games medalists in swimming Asian Games bronze medalists for Israel Swimmers at the 1970 Asian Games Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games